Tunnel fire could hit ski plans

Thousands of British travellers planning to use the rebuilt Mont Blanc tunnel this winter to reach Italian ski resorts are likely to be affected following the fire in another Alpine tunnel on Wednesday

By Peter Hardy

12:01AM BST 27 Oct 2001

THOUSANDS of British travellers planning to use the rebuilt Mont Blanc tunnel this winter to reach Italian ski resorts are likely to be affected following the fire in another Alpine tunnel on Wednesday.

At least 11 people were killed when two lorries collided head-on in the St Gotthard tunnel near the ski resort of Andermatt in southern Switzerland. Initial reports suggested that damage to the structure of the tunnel was extensive and it is liable to remain closed for the foreseeable future.

The 10-mile road tunnel, the world's second longest, was more modern than the Mont Blanc tunnel and was reputed to be one of the safest in Europe.It provides a link between Zurich and northern Italy and is a popular route used by thousands of British motorists during the summer.

At present, all but the heaviest vehicles can travel instead over the winding St Gotthard Pass, but this will close after the first heavy winter snowfall.

Traffic through the tunnel had been substantially heavier since the Mont Blanc tunnel linking France and Italy was closed after a fire there in February 1999 in which 39 people died.

This week's accident has renewed controversy over the safety of Alpine road tunnels in general and will almost certainly delay the reopening of the Mont Blanc tunnel, even though it has been repaired. Yves Cochet, the French Environment Minister, said Wednesday's accident illustrated the dangers posed by the planned resumption of traffic in the Mont Blanc tunnel.

The tunnel was due to reopen in the second half of November, but a French local government spokesman said this may now not happen. "The situation is under review; obviously the report on this new accident will have to be taken into consideration."

Any further delay in reopening the Mont Blanc tunnel will mean that skiers wanting to reach Courmayeur, Cervinia, and the other resorts of the Italian Aosta Valley via Geneva will have to continue to use the much less convenient Grand St Bernard tunnel, connecting Switzerland with Italy near Martigny in south-western Switzerland.

Swiss Railways (CFF) said it had doubled its capacity for the combined road-rail service, which carries trucks by train between Basel on the German border and northern Italy, and was setting up a special shuttle service for cars.

To accommodate the increased traffic in the future, Switzerland has started building two huge railway tunnels under the Alps, including a 35-mile long tunnel under the St Gotthard pass scheduled for completion in 2012.